John Wick

It’s the tried-and-true formula of one last job/heist/assignment. A longtime bad guy leaves the life of crime in pursuit of peace and quiet, but
naturally gets dragged back to his old haunts and habits to settle a final
score. But “John Wick” breathes exhilarating life into this tired
premise, thanks to some dazzling action choreography, stylish visuals and–most importantly–a vintage anti-hero performance from Keanu Reeves.

Toward the end of the film, a menacing Russian mobster remarks
that the veteran hit man John Wick looks very much like the John Wick of old.
Keanu Reeves looks very much like the Keanu Reeves of old, as well. Elegantly
handsome and athletically lean, he looks fantastic at 50 and is comfortably,
securely back in action-star mode. Not that he’s been gone that long–or deviated
that much from his persona–but this later-stage butt-kicking does call to
mind Liam Neeson’s recent resurgence in movies like “Taken,” “The Grey” and
“Non-Stop.”

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After all these years, though, he’s still quintessentially
Keanu. He radiates a Zen-like calm which makes him simultaneously elusive and irresistible,
especially in the face of great mayhem. There’s still a boyish quality to his
face but it belies the wisdom of his years. He’s smarter than he looks but he’s
in no great hurry to go out of his way to prove it to you–at least, not on
screen. He just … is.

A character like John Wick is right in Reeves’ wheelhouse
because it allows him to be coolly, almost mythically confident, yet deliver an
amusing, deadpan one-liner with detached precision. (This is when traces of the
playful characters of his youth–Ted “Theodore” Logan and Johnny Utah–take a
moment to surface.) But when the time comes–and it comes often in “John Wick”–he can deliver with a graceful yet powerful physicality.

Soon after the death of his wife (Bridget Moynahan)–the
woman whose love inspired him to retire from his life as an expert assassin–Wick
receives an unwelcome visit to his minimalist, modern mansion in the middle of
the night. Russian bad guys have come to steal his prized 1969 Mustang–and
they kill his dog in the process. The latter act is horrifying in itself;
what’s even worse is that the adorable beagle puppy, Daisy, was a posthumous
gift to John from his dying wife, who knew he’d need someone else to love.

(Moynahan’s character, by the way, is barely even a person.
She’s an image on a smartphone video clip–a body lying in a hospital bed,
suffering from an unspecified disease. She's an idea. But her loss provides Wick with a
melancholy that lingers over his demeanor and every decision he makes.)

Wick wastes no time unearthing his stashed arsenal and
seeking revenge. It turns out that the group’s reckless, young leader, Iosef
(Alfie Allen), is the son of a former associate of Wick’s: mob boss Viggo
Tarasov (a sophisticated but scary Michael Nyqvist), who is fully aware of
Wick’s killing capacity. Also in the mix is Willem Dafoe as an expert sniper
who may or may not be on Wick’s side. Once the premise is established in the
script from Derek Kolstad, it’s scene after scene of Wick taking out entire
rooms full of people who are foolish enough to stand in his way. This is not
exactly a complicated genre from a narrative perspective.

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But directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch–who work as
a filmmaking team, although Leitch technically takes producing credit–are
both veteran stuntmen who clearly know what they’re doing when it comes to this
kind of balletic action. Stahelski got his break 20 years ago when he served as
a stunt double following Brandon Lee’s deadly accident while shooting “The
Crow” and went on to perform as Reeves’ stunt double in “The Matrix” trilogy. Leitch’s
work includes doubling for Brad Pitt (in “Fight Club” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”)
and Matt Damon (in “The Bourne Ultimatum”).

All those years of experience and exposure give their film a
level of confidence you don’t ordinarily see in first-time directors. They’re
smart enough to let the intricate choreography speak for itself. They let the
fight scenes play out without relying on a lot of nauseating shaky-cam or
Cuisinart edits, which sadly have become the aesthetic standard of late.

But beyond the exquisite brutality they put on display,
they’ve also got an eye for artistry, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela
helping convey an ominous sense of underworld suspense. Early scenes are so crisply
desaturated, they look black and white, from the cloudy, rainy skies over
Wick’s wife’s funeral to his head-to-toe wardrobe to his sleek, slate-gray
Mustang. As Wick begins to re-immerse himself in the criminal world he’d
escaped, other scenes pop in their vibrancy–the deep green of a secret,
members-only cocktail bar, or the rich red of a Russian bad guy’s shirt under
an impeccably tailored suit.

While the body count grows numbing and repetitive, “John
Wick” actually is more compelling in the aesthetically heightened, specifically
detailed world it depicts. It’s the New York City of the here and now, but
Wick, his fellow assassins and other sundry nefarious sorts occupy
their own parallel version of it, with its own peculiar rules which almost seem
quaint. They have their own currency: gold coins reminiscent of pirates’
doubloons, which can be used for goods and services or just as thanks for a
favor. And they frequent an upscale, downtown hotel and bar called The
Continental (Lance Reddick from “The Wire” is the unflappably polite manager),
a sort of safe zone where protocol dictates that peace prevails, and where
killing is cause for dismissal. The courtliness of it all provides an amusing
and welcome contrast to the non-stop carnage.

You can check out any time you'd like, it seems, but you can never leave.

Christy Lemire is a co-host of the YouTube film review show "What the Flick?!" Christy reviewed films for The Associated Press for over 14 years. You can find Christy's writing at ChristyLemire.com. She's also on Twitter @christylemire and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/christy.lemire2. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here.